The Daunting Task Of Grocery Shopping

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Is there one thing that comes up in your marriage that fills your heart with anxiety or covers your mind with stress?

You know what I mean… Your marriage is going great, then that one thing surfaces and immediately stirs tension between you and your husband.

Perhaps it’s whether he leaves the toilet seat up after you ask him to please lay it back down. Maybe it’s whether the bed gets made or that the laundry should land in the laundry basket, not beside it. It could be deciding which in-laws to spend the holidays with and it could also be your spouse’s forgetfulness to do something you asked.

In my marriage, there is something specific that gets our blood boiling for different reasons – the daunting task of grocery shopping! It seems like every episode of grocery shopping is a re-run. We agree to go shopping together, get to the store, grab a cart, enter through the sliding doors, and then bombs explode! Ok not really… this is what happens:

My husband asks me, “Did you make a grocery list?”

I shrink down, with crooked eyebrows and an apologetic voice, “No, sorry, I forgot.”

Husband: “So what are we here to get?”

Me: “Well what are you in the mood for?”

Husband: “You said you would research recipes and make a list. This is going to take a while.”

Me: “I know, sorry.” At this point I would rather leave the store, but we still need groceries, so I deflect, “I will do that this week! I will make a list for next time.”

It seems easier to say I will try and do something at a later time, but then I usually forget. My husband would probably not get as frustrated if I didn’t say I would make a list and don’t. I get frustrated knowing I have to attempt a grocery list…. and the cycle continues! We walk through each aisle asking each other what we should get, with tilted attitudes coating our voices.

I am not sure why it is so daunting to make a grocery list and go shopping, but it is! I have the hardest time knowing what to make for dinner during the week. So instead of doing what I said I would, I neglect and shelve the to-do task, until it’s too late and we are standing dubiously in the front of the grocery store.

Do you do anything or not do something that aggravates your husband?

Does he do anything or not do something that aggravates you?

Please share in the comments below and explain how you deal with these issues in your marriage!

Unveiled Wife

My name is Jennifer and I began this BLOG to share my journey as a wife, unveiled, uncovered and wide open, to purge my heart of the pain I have encountered AND to encourage other women in the world who are, have been, or will soon be wives...
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Join The Discussion, Leave A Comment Below!

Andrea

The method that works well for me (which I learned from my mom) is to keep staples on hand in my pantry and freezer. It really helps to have a small chest or upright freezer! Then whenever I notice that I’m getting low in a certain item, I write it down on my grocery list, which stays on the fridge. I try to make meals that don’t require special ingredients. You can make a lot of simple but delicious meals with basic ingredients. So far meal planning hasn’t been necessary…who knows, that might change once we have a few children!

Cocodmc3

Meal plan! We’re a family of 6 (plus the neighbor kids usually show up for meals). I plan 4 meals per week (then leftovers the rest), then buy everything I need to make them. Gotta have a list! Here’s one of our favorites: Taco pasta salad: Tri-colored rotini pasta
Iceberg lettuce
Catalina dressing
taco flavored ground beef
tortilla chips, crushed up
black olives
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Cook pasta as directed, cool and set aside. Brown meat as directed, then season with taco seasoning. In large bowl, mix together pasta, lettuce, and dressing. When ready to serve, put pasta mixture on plates or bowls. Top with meat, olives, chips and cheese. Eat! This is so easy.

Angicook42

EZMeals! Gives the recipe, AND the grocery list (and cost)! $5 a month, and it’s budget conscious! You can get a regular menu, diet, or special needs menus. AND…you pick the store! This makes it easy to cut coupons, because you know exactly which ones you need! I got this from Dave Ramsey…the family budget guru. Good luck!

Mo4you85

I understand and I am going through that too. I don’t understand why these mothers don’t allow their sons to live their lives. I am so blessed that my mun is not like that; I wouldn’t want my Bro or her son to be going through that pain. Marriage is already hard and when a mother in law butts in; it makes it much harder. I pray for her a lot cuz this is making me frustrated cuz I know I won’t treat my son wife like this when I get a kid in the near future. I will pray for you and pray for me too.

Erin

allrecipes.com offers a menu planner and I believe it also gives you the option of printing off a grocery list. The plus of all recipes is that it has lots of user reviews and if you scan down through there are usually ways to alter the recipe as well as any necessary fixes. I’ve also used spark people.com. Nice healthy recipes. They use some weird alternative ingredients in some recipes (funky artificial sweeteners etc) but overall pretty decent.

Aschenputtel8

I have a kind of template, it changes as I change in moods, but generally I have a soup day, a salad day, a legumes day, a pasta day, etc, then when menu planning day hits (I plan on Thursday because my store gets most fresh produce on friday in time for weekend shoppers and so the produce lasts longer) Come Friday I remember most of whats on my list because I made it the night before, and I organize my list by the way I walk through the store (saves tons of back and forth trips) I keep a binder with page protectors and it has all my favorite recipes, so I dont have to keep figuring out which cookbook it is in. I separate the meal recipes with dividers by soups, salads, pastas etc, so I just flip through each category and pick one, note the ingredients and move on. This takes some prep time up front to make the binder, but it is a wonderful, timesaving way to do it and I love that I can add to it anytime I find a new recipe I like. Good luck! P.s. now if I could only be this organized and disciplined with my cleaning routine….

Heather

Meal plan Monday sponsored by “I’m an organizing junkie” (dot com) and 5 dollar dinners dot com are two good resources. I do have to admit though that meal planning is not one of my strong areas. I’d like to work on that, as well as build some variety into our meals. I am new to your blog and have been encouraged greatly by your posts.

http://www.servingjoyfully.com/ Crystal @ Serving Joyfully

Two words: Meal Planning! It is your friend. Yes, it’s annoying to sit down for 30 minutes to an hour and plan out meals for a week. But, when it’s done it’s done and you have your grocery list and you don’t have to worry about that “what’s for dinner” question for a whole week (or 2, or however long you plan for). I highly recommend that you try it at least once, even if you feel adamantly that it’s not for you, give it a shot

Grocery shopping is something we “struggle” with as well. Mostly because if I bring my husband along, he finds something NOT on my list that he just needs. Example: Hubby- “Oooooooh, baaaabyy! Look! They have Oreos on sale!!!!” Me- “I only have thirty dollars to spend and Oreos are not on my list.” Hubby- “But baby, they’re only four dollars!!!!” Me- “Why do I continue to bring you with me??”

LOL

But as far as recipes go, this is my hubby’s favorite and it’s super easy:

Melt the butter in a skillet on the stove
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl
Dip the chicken breasts in the butter, then roll them in the dry ingredients
Lay the chicken side-by-side in a glass baking dish
Use the remaining dry ingredients and pour over the top of the chicken
Bake for 40-50 minutes (until done) at 350 degrees. (My oven cooks really fast so you may have to adjust the time/temperature)

Like I said, my husband ADORES this meal. And it’s pretty easy/cheap so I’m glad he does!

Coco

Mwahaha, I go through the exact same thing. I absolutely love cooking and trying new recipes (and, obviously, eating)…but when it comes to actually planning a dinner, I fail almost every night! And it doesn’t make it any easier having a picky eater for a husband

Megan s

For us it’s my mother-in-law. She is very controlling, manipulative, disrespectful to me, and favors our daughter over our sons tremendously. So whenever she is around, tension between us stirs. I want him to stand up to her behavior and he is nonchalant.

Tish_thompson

My go to dinner that makes enough to last a few meals is always spaghetti.
Jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1lb of ground meat (I use turkey)
Box of whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Brown meat, add pasta sauce (I also put in a big squirt of mustard, a little bit of worcestershire sauce and 2 T of sugar to taste). In the meantime cook the noodles per box instructions. And you’re done.

Kelly Addis

My poor husband… I basically make the same 3 meals ALL the time. Here are my easy and quick recipes that are my staple lol:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the chicken rub, oatmeal, crushed gold fish crackers, and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Poor the ranch in a bowl. Dip each piece of raw chicken in the ranch and then in the mixture-place on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes Microwave frozen veggies while there is about 5 minutes left for chicken to cook.

Boil the chicken tenderloins. While chicken is boiling, cook frozen veggies on the stovetop. Chop chicken into bite sized pieces. Drain any excess water from veggies, then add the chicken. Add dressing and heat to desired temp. Serve over rice.

I hope this helps with some of your grocery dilemma’s, however-the next time your husband has to go to the grocery store without you, he may realize he misses your unprepared ways

Samantha

Jennifer–I used to plan out our meals every week, sometimes for two weeks in advance and do a whole trip by myself. It is so much easier with a list, without the husband and with a goal in mind. If you want any of my recipes, feel free to get a hold of me! Dimmicksn@gmail.com

Sis

That’s funny that you shop together. My husband never grocery shops with me, but sometimes if he wants something he’ll stop on his way home from work. I didn’t start making grocery lists until I had kids and actually had to have supper on the table every night.

keltrinswife

If there was one thing, I feel like I am the only one who notices when garbage needs taken out:) The question–why don’t I just do it myself? Grocery shopping–I tried to make a menu and list for the week.It doesn’t work for me. We throw a lot of food out because it went bad. It seems to work better to go every day.Recipe ideas–look at my pintrest page.

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